Franco Luciani

Instrumentalist, composer, vocalist and harmonica interpreter Franco Luciani is considered by Argentine critics and the media to be one of the most remarkable and talented musicians of the new generation. Born in Rosario (Santa Fe, Argentina), in 1981, he started out studying drums and percussion. He attended the National University of Rosario [Universidad Nacional de Rosario], the Municipal School of Music [Escuela Municipal de Música], and the Provincial School of Music [Escuela Provincial de Música] in his hometown, graduating from this last institution with the nationally validated degree of Music Teacher Specialized in Symphonic and Drum Percussion. However, he ultimately carved out a professional career as a harmonica player, covering all types of harmonicas, but specializing in the chromatic one. He is an exponent of Argentine popular music, both rural and urban (folk music and tango, respectively). This inclination led him to compete in the Pre-Cosquín Contest of the Cosquín National Folklore Festival in 2002, where he was the winner in the ‘Instrumental Soloist’ category, and then granted the 2002 Cosquín Best New Artist Award [Premio Revelación Cosquín]. This festival, in which Franco has taken part non-stop since then, is considered to be the most important festival of Argentine folk music, and one of the main folklore festivals in Latin America.

That was the beginning of his professional career, which is growing constantly and has led him to perform extensively with his various groups, both throughout his native country and abroad in countries like Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Canada, France (Paris and other cities), Germany, Luxembourg, Greece, Bulgaria and China (Shanghai), Australia (Brisbane), Indonesia (Bali), among others. He has also performed in Italy and England as a special guest of the leading Argentine folk singer Mercedes Sosa (in her concerts in Milan, Rome and London, in 2008), and in the USA with Peruvian singer Eva Ayllón (on a tour organized as a tribute to Chabuca Granda, and which included major US cities). Franco has released nine records: Armusa (Franco Luciani Grupo, tango and folk music, 2002, re-released by Acqua Records in 2010), Armónica y Tango (Franco Luciani Dúo, tango – Acqua Records, 2006), Acuarelas de Bolsillo (Franco Luciani Grupo, tango and folk music – Acqua Records, 2007), Proyecto Sanluca (Proyecto Sanluca, folk music and tango – Acqua Records, 2009), Falsos Límites (Franco Luciani and Federico Lechner, Acqua Records, 2010), Franco Luciani Grupo Folklore (Acqua Records, 2012), Franco Luciani Tango Trío (Acqua Records, 2012) and Gardeleria (Youkali 2013-Spain, Acqua Records 2014), Anda en el aire (Acqua Records, 2017). He has taken part in the CD homage to the CD jazz harmonica master Toots Thielemans, “We do it out of love” along with other world class harmonica players. He has also shared the stage, toured and taken part in recordings with a large number of renowned Argentine and foreign artists, such as Mercedes Sosa, Fito Páez, Raúl Carnota, Chango Spasiuk, Pedro Aznar, Jaime Torres, Divididos, Guillermo Fernández, León Gieco, Luis Salinas, Teresa Parodi, María Volonté, Horacio Molina, Maria Graña, Amelita Baltar, Dúo Coplanacu, Víctor Heredia, Eva Ayllón, Juan Carlos Baglietto, Jairo, Gotan Project and Lila Downs, among others. Franco has been honoured with many prizes, the most prestigious being the 2005 Clarín Entertainment Award [Premio Clarín Espectáculos], the 2007 Trimarg award (UNESCO), the 2008 Atahualpa Award (given to Argentine folk music), the ‘Folk Figure’ nomination for the 2009 Clarín Entertainment Award (alongside Mercedes Sosa and Teresa Parodi in the shortlist), the 2010 Cosquín Established Artist Award [Premio Consagración Cosquín] in the golden edition of the Cosquín National Folklore Festival, the 2010 and 2011 Atahualpa Award for ‘Best Instrumental Soloist’, “Gardel Prize” 2015 to his album “Gardeleria” with Federico Lechner and “Diploma al merito -Konex Award-” as one of the 5 (five) best Instrumentalist of the decade.

He is considered a master of the harmonica by the world’s most prestigious brand of the instrument, Hohner of Germany, and he is honored by membership in the Hohner online gallery, Masters of the Harmonica. Franco is an international endorser of Hohner. Currently, he takes part in various musical groups with which he is performing extensively on both national and international tours. In addition to this, he is now working on the recording of subsequent records.